Chapter 21 The censors collectively wrote a letter of impeachment, targeting Prime Minister Lin!

There is a difference between court meetings and collective meetings.

The emperor held court in the palace, and all officials came to the emperor's court as usual.

When the emperor raised something verbally or when there was controversial discussion in the court, this was called court discussion.

But not all matters are suitable to be raised in court meetings. For some matters, the emperor will only convene officials within a certain range for decision-making discussions, which is called collective discussion.

Logically speaking, Xihu was a legitimate regime after all, and decisions related to Xihu should be discussed at the court meeting.

However, both court discussions and collective discussions depended on the emperor's wishes. Even if he just found a specific official and gave an order directly, there would be no problem.

There was nothing special about the agenda of today's court meeting compared to usual ones, but all the officials who could attend were present.

It seems as calm as water, but there are undercurrents.

"The Holy One has arrived!"

As the eunuch sang in a clear and loud voice, all the ministers immediately straightened their court robes, bowed deeply, and shouted "Long live the emperor".

Emperor Qing glanced at the ministers, slowly walked to the dragon throne and sat down, saying, "Everyone, stand up."

After hearing the words, the ministers stood up and began to discuss the various topics of the day.

Soon, all the details were finalized one by one.

"Now that everything has been settled, let's all go." Emperor Qing seemed to be in a bad mood and prepared to get up.

At this time, Guo Zheng, the Imperial Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, stood up, holding the memorial in both hands, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

Emperor Qing said calmly, "Speak."

The Imperial Censor seemed to have made up his mind, and gritted his teeth and said, "I want to report to the Prime Minister Lin Ruofu!"

Emperor Qing's tone seemed a little surprised, "You want to report to Prime Minister Lin? Not allowed."

The Imperial Censor knelt on the ground, holding the memorial above his head, shouting at the top of his lungs, heartbroken and indignant.

"Your Majesty, Lin Ruofu is the head of all officials, but he does not think about serving the court. Instead, he gathers people into a party and abuses his power for personal gain. If he is not severely punished, he will endanger the country!"

"I implore Your Majesty to conduct a thorough investigation, to clear the court of corruption and restore order to the world!"

Emperor Qing pretended to be very angry, "You said that Prime Minister Lin formed a clique for personal gain, do you have any evidence for this?"

"If you don't have evidence, then you are falsely accusing the prime minister. I will not let you off easily!"

The Imperial Censor raised the memorial in his hand higher, "I dare not deceive your majesty. I have already presented all the evidence of my crime in the document. Your majesty will know it at a glance!"

Emperor Qing waved his hand, signaling the eunuch to present the memorial, "Guo Zheng, if you dare to forge evidence, it will be a crime of deceiving the emperor, and you should be executed!"

"If you don't participate, I can pretend that this incident never happened and spare your life."

Imperial Censor Guo Zheng quickly said, "Even if I had ten thousand guts, I would never dare to deceive Your Majesty!"

"If my evidence is fabricated, Your Majesty can kill me on the spot, and I will have no regrets!"

Emperor Qing took the memorial, flipped it open, scanned it, and then threw it aside. "Guo Zheng, you are so bold that you dare to fabricate false evidence!" Guo Zheng kowtowed repeatedly, and blood soon seeped out of his forehead. "Every word I said is true. Your Majesty, please investigate and execute the traitor Lin Ruofu!"

Emperor Qing sighed helplessly, "You said that what you wrote here is true, but I believe in the character of Prime Minister Lin. He would never do such an unruly thing."

"Lin Xiang, don't you think so?"

Lin Ruofu stepped out slowly and said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, I don't know why Censor Guo impeached me, but since there is a dispute, how can we not investigate? I beg Your Majesty to investigate this case thoroughly!"

Emperor Qing rejected him directly, "I know what kind of person you are, Prime Minister Lin. How could you not cherish your feathers for such a small gain?"

"There is no need to investigate this matter. I believe that you, Minister Lin, must have been wrongly accused!"

"But Guo Zheng actually dared to fabricate evidence to slander the prime minister. This is a crime of deceiving the emperor. I will punish him severely!"

Lin Ruofu reiterated, "Your Majesty, whoever violates Qing law should be investigated, even if I am the head of all officials."

"I also ask Your Majesty to grant Censor Guo's request, thoroughly investigate this case, and clear my name!"

After the words fell, Lai Mingcheng also spoke up, "Your Majesty, I don't know what evidence Censor Guo has.
But as Prime Minister Lin said, no one can override Qing Law. Your Majesty, please investigate this case thoroughly!"

Not only Lai Mingcheng, but all the censors of the Censorate stood up and said, "Your Majesty, if you don't investigate just because the Prime Minister has worked so hard and made great contributions, I'm afraid it will be hard to convince the public!"

"Whether the Prime Minister has formed a clique for personal gain will be known if we investigate. I don't know why Your Majesty doesn't investigate!"

"I once again implore Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate the Prime Minister's suspected clique-building and selfishness case!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

For a time, almost all the censors in the Censorate demanded a thorough investigation of the prime minister of the time.

But no official from other departments echoed the voice, and the scene looked very strange.

Lin Ruofu's eyes flickered, and he realized something was wrong, and pinched the memorial in his sleeve.

Emperor Qing's tone seemed somewhat helpless. "Although I don't want the emperor and his subjects to be suspicious of each other, since there is a dispute, I will call the three courts to hold a joint trial and thoroughly investigate the case of Prime Minister Lin's suspected clique!"

As soon as he finished speaking, all the ministers immediately shouted long live the emperor.

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

Emperor Qing looked at Lin Ruofu gently, "Prime Minister Lin, I may have to inconvenience you during this period of time."

Lin Ruofu immediately said, "If I am found to have a problem, I will resign as prime minister!"

The emotions in Emperor Qing's eyes disappeared, leaving only indifference, "Okay, okay, it seems that Lin Xiang has confidence in me as well."

"In that case, let's wait and see. Court is adjourned."

At this moment, a voice suddenly rang out, "Your Majesty, I have something to say!"

(End of this chapter)